Environmental concerns about the disposal of waste products has led to redesign of many products with a view to reducing unnecessary packaging. Rolled sheet material, particularly that intended for use in the food industry or the home, is often packaged in a cardboard container with a flip top lid and a cutting edge. A user opens the lid, pulls out the desired length of sheet material from the roll within and tears it off against the cutting edge. The package is convenient for a user since it may be picked up and used in any location and then tossed onto a counter or stored in a drawer or the like. The package is inconvenient from an environmental point of view because it must be disposed of after the roll is exhausted and the cutting edge, if made of a metal strip, interferes with recycling of the paper package.
There are many designs of reusable dispensers for rolled sheet material which respond to these environmental concerns. Some employ cases which are similar in shape and design to the cardboard packaging that they are intended to replace but are fabricated of plastic or other suitable material. Many, if not all, of these cases are intended to be wall mounted. The known cases are fabricated from a plurality of parts and often have hinges or other moving elements.
In its elegance, simplicity and novel functional features, the present invention particularly directed to be used as a hand held dispenser rather than wall mounted unit thereby providing the advantage of the paper packaging in that the user may acquire, use and store it in any convenient location. While the combination of novel features of the present invention is primarily adapted to facilitate portability and hand held use, nevertheless, it will be appreciated from the following disclosure that the invention may be adapted for wall mounting if desired.